Kodiak Koehler's

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Miss Donavyn is officially potty trained! She's even waking up in the middle of the night to sit on the potty or upset b/c she's pee peed in her pull up. She's doing great.

Anyway...we're SO proud of her and she loves hearing that too. I believe we have figured out her love language - words of affirmation with a close second of physical touch. We tried doing the M&M's and stickers, but she didn't really care, just wanted us to give her a big hug and tell her how proud we are of her. Gabriel likes to help her celebrate too.

She is so skinny though that panties are just saggy on her. I guess I'll be putting the underwear pattern I bought to good use. Just have to order fabric now.

Oh, and she just HAS to read her books while on the potty. She can stay in there forever just sitting on her potty and reading. She gets that from her daddy. *snort*

Here are some extra videos. The first is Gabriel and Zach at dinner. Don't mind Zach's hair....he had issues with the clippers, so I had to fix it after the kids went to bed.

The second is of Donavyn eating her soup...the girl LOVES her soup. You'll love the end.

Monday, October 12, 2009

The kids were SO good today (until bedtime, but we won't talk about how they threw fits until they fell asleep). Even though they both woke up at 6 a.m. Here are some of the things that happened:

They wanted to play piano and I forgot that the cover was down. They must have been trying to lift it up when Gabriel's finger got smooshed. I don't think it got slammed, just the pressure of the lid on his finger. He starts crying so I go in there, pick him up (lifting the lid up so Donavyn can play and won't get hurt), go sit on the couch and he just cries into my shoulder for a while. He then says, "huwt" and shows me his finger. I kiss it and ask if it's all better and he says, "no" (very emphatically). This continues for a while, with me alternating between comforting and trying to make him laugh.

Meanwhile, Donavyn is playing the piano and singing "tinkle, tinkle dar, wonerwoner are" taking intermittent breaks to applaud and cheer for herself. After she tires of this, she comes into the living room and tries to climb up in my lap with Gabriel....or so I think. She IS climbing up, but NOT to get to me. She wraps her arms around her brother and says, "Wubewbery mush, Babwiel. All be'er? Finger hut. I sowy, Babwiel. Wubew". I was SHOCKED. Yes, ALL of that came out of my barely two year old's mouth at once. She was just hugging on him and patting his back and face the whole time she was talking to him. When she asked about his finger she held his hand and looked at it. SO cute.

I learned today that Gabriel not only can recognize numbers, but he KNOWS the numbers 1 and 2. He brought two signing flash cards to me with frogs on them and said, "two fwogs. weebitweebit." I thought it was a fluke until I experimented with him tonight and I had four cars and asked him how many there were. He took two away and put them behind his back then laughed and said, "two cars". I had no idea kids learned things like that this early.

They both now enjoy reading. Donavyn has loved books forever, but Gabriel has just started liking them in the past week or so. I could read to them all day and they wouldn't get bored, I think. He has his favorite now that he knows the entire book by heart. It's called Peek A Who? He turns the pages and "reads" the book and gets most of it right. His favorite page is the peek a BOO page b/c it has a ghost and he likes being scared lately.

Speaking of enjoying being scared, the kids try to scare each other all day. They can be doing something together or separate and they will just say "BOO" while jerking their arms toward the other one - or me - and they just giggle and say, "scare me".

Donavyn has taken to saying "catch 'er" when she wants to be held. Why, you ask? Well, b/c she likes to stand at the top of the stairs and when we are a few steps below, she will just fall forward, stiff as a board and we'll catch her to bring her downstairs. She is so trusting, it's almost scary.

They also ask for their "bitebabins" a few hundred times a day. Gotta love those Flinstones, huh?

There were some others I can't remember right now, but I'm sure that this is more than enough. Sorry for those of you that hate to read baby talk, but since my family doesn't get to hear them talk, this is the best way for them to know (somewhat) what they sound like.

I spoke with Zach tonight and apparently he has some great pictures from his deployment. I'll make him do a blog when he gets home. Which will be soon...YAY! I hate when he's gone. I really do.

*The picture at the top is one of my favorites from this spring while we were visiting my family. This was Easter day and we had JUST finished taking family pictures. They snuck into the back yard and climbed into their mini pool fully clothed. It was TOO cute!

EDIT TO ADD: Can you believe that I actually made another post already? I think it was my way of focusing on the good parts of the day since the ending wasn't so good. Ahh, the joys of two two-year-olds.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Sorry I've been so bad about updating. Almost everyone is on Facebook, so I just usually do updates there, but I've been meaning to do this. Hopefully I'll be better. This will just be a quick recap of our summer and early fall.Back in June, we all went to San Diego for a few days. Zach was invited by the Discovery Channel to be interviewed for "After the Catch" - the post season recap with the captains of the "Deadliest Catch" vessels. We decided that the kids and I would go to, since we had the miles and the hotel would be paid for. We had a blast. If you want to see pics from our trip, HERE is a link to the ones on my FB. Ben Bailey was the host this year and it turns out he and Zach look a lot alike. Kinda crazy. See?

On July 1, Zach pinned on 0-4. Melissa was nice enough to watch the kids for me, so I could go pin him on. We had the wetting down (military tradition for promotions) in September. We went in with the Dorval's and Becca's XO for it. Just a small bbq in the cul de sac.

On July 5, my dad called to let me know my grandma had passed away. Zach was deployed at the time and had only left days before, so I decided to take the kids and head home...again. I must really like these cross country flights with two kids by myself, huh? Yeah...notsomuch. But I was glad I could be with my family. I miss them very much and this last year in Kodiak is proving to be the most difficult in terms of missing them. I'm so thankful that we got to go home in the Spring and that Grandma got to meet the kids. She is missed, but I know she is having a great time square dancing with Papa in Heaven.

In August we celebrated our 7th anniversary. I love him more today, than I did yesterday and not as much as I will tomorrow. We went out to Monashka Bay (aka white sands beach) for a picnic, but there were dead fish EVERYWHERE and it reeked. I think that was then. If it wasn't that time, there was another time shortly after that. Hmm...I do know that I ended up getting sick and we came home two hours before we told the sitter we would be. Fun stuff. I'm just glad I didn't decide I wanted to climb a mountain again for our anniversary, then gotten sick.

Zach also went to Cordova (aka "Man Camp") in August. He brought home a LOT of fish. He also had a cool case. He had to drop some researchers off on a beach where a whaled had washed up. I thought this was a great pic.

September was fun. Zach came home and took a week off of work, worked for a week, then took the rest of the month off. It was FABulous! The first week off, we had a nice dinner out (to make up for our failed anniversary date). We mostly just worked on the house though. We WILL be selling it this Spring, ya know. Bittersweet. Oh, but we DID go on a hike with the Griffin's. That was fun! I tried to get a pic of the boys too, but they were all running around too much, so they were blurry. Donavyn just loves Peach to pieces. I love the way she looks up to her.On the 23rd, Nana and Gramps came to visit. That also happened to be the day that Gabriel turned 2 1/2. ACK! You know what that means, too though, right? Donavyn turned TWO on the 25th. I can't believe I have two 2 year olds. They are growing up so fast. They are best friends and play together so well...most of the time. They really are sweet.

We had a small birthday party for the little princess with a few friends. It was really nice. We even got to Skype with Grandma and Papaw and Aunt Becca. Gabriel likes Donavyn's gifts too. They love to play momma and daddy.

That's about it really. So much for a quick recap, but I needed as much time by "myself" as possible this morning. Gabriel came and woke me up at 4:30 am and he is NOT a good bed buddy. He's a kicker and likes to be right on top of me. SO, needless to say, I haven't slept since then. Let's hope they nap today...they didn't yesterday.

Enjoy this video of Donavyn singing to her dolly. She is such a good momma. I love how she pats her back. This made me cry. We were driving to the hike with the Griffin's when this was filmed. I believe it was Sept 20. Pray for us. Zach is gone for x days (can't really say, but it's not for too long), so I'm by myself with the kids and I'm exhuasted. And we are awaiting orders, but we won't have them until Feb/Mar, so don't bother asking, we don't know. Pray that the detailer is good to us and that God guides her hands to write our number one choice (if that be His will).

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Father's Day to all the father's out there. Especially the 3 extra special ones in my life.

First, my dad. Thank you for always being there and for supporting me. I know I didn't always make that easy, but even when you didn't agree, you still let me know that you love and support me. That means a lot. I remember running up to you when you would come home from work and walking backwards on your feet as you went from the kitchen to the den and sitting in your lap (probably driving you crazy) while you read the paper and watched the news - at the same time. I love you, Dad!

Second, Pops. Zach isn't here to share any of his feelings or thoughts, but I know that he respects you more than anyone in the world. You always worked hard to provide for your family. He often talks about the big camping trip you did and he hopes to re-create that with our kids one day. Thank you for raising him (along with OM - other mother for those that are curious) to treat people with gentleness and kindness. Love ya, Pops!

Finally, the love of my life, the holder to the key to my heart, and wonderful father to our children. Zach, you are amazing. You are right in the thick of it with me. Not all women can say that, but I can. You are right there beside me changing diapers, bathing kids, disciplining when necessary, and loving and playing with the kids. Thank you for being my rock. I wish you were home today so that we could take care of you. You spend so much time taking care of the rest of us that you don't get pampered. We'll make it up to you. We love you very much and I am SO blessed that God chose you to live life with me and to raise kids up in Him. I could go on, but I'll stop.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

I'm home now (as of about 11:30 last night). The flights were fairly uneventful. As usual, people stereotyped me and the kids b/c I was alone with two toddlers and kept rolling eyes and making snide comments, but my kids were troopers and acted better than some of the adults on the plane. Minneapolis to Anchorage was the hardest and I was met with several REALLY rude people, but it worked out better for us, as it got us a row to ourselves. YIPPEE!

The kids were SO excited to pull into the garage last night. Donavyn was pretty much jumping up and down in her carseat and they both were laughing. It was so nice to see them that happy. I let them play with their "new" (to them again, anyway) toys for a while and they went to bed around midnight. I was out by about 12:15 myself, but since one of our bags didn't make it home yet - "should" get here this morning - I didn't have the complete setup for the baby monitor, so I set the alarm for 6:30 thinking the boy may wake up early. It's now almost 8 and they are still asleep. I on the other hand have taken a shower, fixed my hair, moisturized, cleaned half of the bathroom, put away dishes and started going through mail.

I'll update with pictures soon. Zach has a lot of them on his computer too, so it may be a while since he is still in Mobile for a week of training. I'm going to see if my babysitter can come and watch the kids 2-3 days this week so I can just get some space. I haven't had much time alone in a month and a half, so it is desperately needed.

We had a GREAT time in FL and TN with my family. I miss them already. Love you all!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

See? I told you I'd be better. The kids are SO funny. They love to sing and play the piano. We may have our own house band one day.

Donavyn likes to play with the box that is supposed to hold Gabriel's Thomas trains and track. She just dumps it and either climbs in or, as you can see here, put it on her head and pretend she's a space cadet. Ok, so that's what WE say she's doing anyway.

Gabriel also REALLY enjoys feeding his sister. It's really sweet. He will take his own snack and feed it to her and she will sometimes to do the same to him. I love that he takes care of her. Granted, he also likes to steal her lovies out of her hands and run off with them, but he is a big brother afterall and he does have brotherly duties to fulfill. He is pretty good about giving them back to her though when she gets REALLY cranky. She just chases him squealing while he taunts her. It takes all I have to not laugh when she gets upset. Alas, I have no pictures of this part, but I do have a picture of him feeding her yogos the other night.

Love you all! Only 10 days until the kids and I leave for Florida! YAY! I cannot WAIT to see everyone! I love and miss you all so much! And I can't wait until my kids can join the kid stack.

Friday, February 20, 2009

1. We got our paper orders today. We are staying in Kodiak for one more year. Next year we have to do this all over again, so no, we won't know where we are moving until about this time next year. We are going to be back in the lower 48 in 2010 though, so there is that.

2. I created a new blog today. God has really led my heart to do this and I'm finally listening. It just so happens that I chose my 29th birthday to do that. So happy birthday me. Thanks mom and dad for raising me! I love you! Enjoy and let me know what you think! I am the clay.

The past month or so I've really tried to upload pictures and make some update posts, but every time I sit down to do it, I just CAN'T! I've been trying to figure out why exactly it's been so hard and I think I've come to the realization that I just don't like to live in the past. I know it's not really living in the past, but I prefer to post new pics and things as they happen, not two months later. I apologize to my family for not keeping up with this better, and I am going to do my best to start doing that now.

With that realization about not living in the past also came the realization that I don't particularly live in the present either. I tend to focus on (many would say worry about) the future. I'm not exactly sure when these truths hit me smack upside the head, but they have. The past few days I've been trying to focus on the present and enjoying things the way they are now. It's important to take the lessons from our past and our hopes and dreams for the future to work on today.

God has really worked heavily on my heart the past year on one thing in particular. Not long after we brought Gabriel home, I was up in middle of the night rocking one of the kids back to sleep. At that time, we had to leave the radio on all night for the kids or they would wake up every half hour or so. We left it on K-Love and there happened to be a segment about letting your "yes be yes". For some reason, it struck a chord and for the past year or so, I've been focusing on letting my yes be yes.

It hasn't been easy and I have failed in my efforts in several areas, but I feel that GOD has truly encouraged and given me the time to focus on decisions before making them. The times I do NOT heed His guidance to truly think things through, I have regretted my decision every time.

Why I'm sharing this, I have NO idea. Perhaps it's because I haven't let my yes be yes regarding my blogging (i.e. "I'll get another blog up this week", and here we are 6 weeks later).

SO, with that said, I hope these videos and pictures that I took today will suffice. For the family that I will soon see (YAY for visiting FL next month!) you can see all the pictures from the past year or so while I'm there, promise.

Oh, and please pray for me as I take a while to expand my focus to include living in the moment, while learning from the past and building towards a future. I think this is a huge struggle for me.

Ok, without further ado, here are your pictures and videos.

Here Miss Donavyn is playing on the "motorcycle" Grandma and Pawpaw gave Gabriel for Christmas. It plays music (which you can hear in the video). She had SO much fun on this today.

The next picture is of Gabriel, happy as a clam to be flipped upside down. We cut his hair the other day b/c it was long enough to put in a pony tail and was driving him crazy (not to mention me). And yes, I did say "we". Zach used his 1" clippers, then I used scissors to trim it up. It's not perfect, but he looks so cute. He's such a big boy now!

This last video is of the kids playing with the bubbles that Nana and Papa sent for Valentine's Day. We got them a couple days ago and they play with them for 15 minutes before moving on. You are lucky I'm even posting it b/c I HATE videos of myself, but the kids are just too cute in it, that I know you all will love it.

OH! One more thing! Gabriel has FINALLY starting making more sounds and can now say "momma", "dada", "nana", and make the "ba" sound. I am convinced that he said "bubble" more than once today. And my mom heard it too, so I can't be imagining it. Donavyn says, "momma", "daddy", "ni-ni", "nana", the "ga" sound, "baby", "hi", "hedo" (hello), "hey" (can you tell she is social?) and we're working on the "pa" sound too. I can't believe they are growing up so fast!

About Us

Zach is a pilot for the CG and I am a SAHM of two two-year olds - both jobs are extremely dangerous and not for the weak of heart. We are stationed in Kodiak, Alaska and love it here. Kodiak has so much to offer and we have made some amazing friends who are now family. It's hard to live away from family, but for now, we know we are exactly where God wants us.